Sensex, Nifty Marginally Lower In Early Trade; Pharma Stocks Drag
(RTTNews) - Indian shares were flat to slightly lower on Thursday, tracking weak global markets after the July FOMC meeting minutes suggested continuation of the hawkish stance to bring inflation under control.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex slipped 15 points to 60,245 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 7 points at 17,937.
Pharma stocks succumbed to selling pressure, with Cipla, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's Laboratories losing 1-3 percent.
Wipro fell 1.3 percent after reports that it has decided to pause variable pay-outs for the April-June quarter for mid and senior-level employees amid significant pressure on margins.
Financials traded higher, with SBI, HDFC Life, Kotak Mahindra Bank and SBI Life rallying 1-2 percent.
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were seeing modest gains after the release of monthly subscriber data by TRAI.
Natco Pharma gained 2 percent after it received tentative approval from the U.S. FDA for Trabectedin for injection.
Infibeam Avenues surged 6.3 percent on fund raising reports.
GAIL rose 0.6 percent. The company's board approved plans to raise $3.125 billion via external commercial borrowing and up to Rs 25,000 crore via non-convertible debentures.
ONGC was marginally lower after in inked an agreement with global oil giant ExxonMobil Corp for deepwater exploration in India.
Adani Green Energy edged up slightly. The company has received provisional approval from Sri Lanka for two wind projects.
Yes Bank gained 0.6 percent after it became a limited partner (LP) in two Venture Catalysts Group funds by investing an undisclosed amount.
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